All Articles: ReCore

It’s a big day for the Xbox Games Store, as Xbox One owners will be able to choose from more than a dozen new releases this week, as well as the launch of Microsoft’s Xbox Play Anywhere program.

ReCore is a third-person action game for the Xbox One from Armature Studio and Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune. Players will take control of Joule Adams, one of the last remaining humans on Far Eden. As she struggles for survival, she’ll have to fight back against evil robotic foes and create her own army of friendly automatons. As the first Xbox Play Anywhere title, players who purchase it for the Xbox One will also receive access to the game on Windows 10 as well.

Most of this week’s new releases deal with “Survival” in some way or another, but The Witness is in a class of its own. Players wake up on “a strange island full of puzzles” and must work out the solutions if they want to continue in the Xbox One title. A simpler survival story can be found in Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, an Xbox One game that pits the famous Pac-Man against the Ghosts once again.

Frank West’s fight isn’t with any kind of spook or specter, but the living dead. And he’ll need all the help he can get as Capcom will re-release Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record on the Xbox One this week. The remastered games will feature improved graphics, and you can even grab all three of them at a discount with the Dead Rising Triple Pack.

2K Games and Irrational Games will also re-release a loosely connected trilogy for the Xbox One this week with the launch of BioShock: The Collection. Containing BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, Xbox One owners will be able to play through visually-enhanced version of the games and listen to developer’s commentary from Ken Levine and others.

And are you ready for some sports? New hockey (NHL 17), racing (NASCAR Heat: Evolution), and soccer games (Pro Evolution Soccer 2017) are available to download for the Xbox One today. Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 was also released for the Xbox 360.

Finally this week, Telltale Games will launch new entries in two of their episodic series. Xbox 360 owners will be able to play as both Batman and Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 1: Realm of Shadows, while Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners will be able to experience the finale of Minecraft: Story Mode in Episode 8: A Journey’s End?

More information about all of these games (and a few other new releases) can be found after the break. (more…)

Ladies and gentlemen, it has begun. The “Fall Gaming Season” begins now, and publisher are flooding store shelves with more than a dozen new titles this week.

With the NFL season kicking off today, let’s start with this week’s sports offerings. EA Sports released Madden NFL 17 three weeks, but the publisher is back this week with NHL 17 for the PS4 and Xbox One. If you’re more of a basketball fan, 2K Games will release the NBA 2K17: Early Tip Off Edition this week for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Soccer supporters will also get a new simulation this week with the release of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. And the checkered flag goes to NASCAR Heat: Evolution, which will be released for the PS4 and Xbox One this week.

Far away from Earth’s athletic fields is the planet of Far Eden, an interstellar colony that’s been overrun by villainous robots in Microsoft’s ReCore. Developed by Armature Studio, with additional idea work by Keiji Inafune, ReCore lets players fight back as Joule Adams, a resourceful woman who has her own team of robotic helpers. ReCore will be released for the Xbox One and it’ll also be available digitally for the PC as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

You know who else has access to a lot of gadgets? Batman. And Telltale Games will put the World’s Greatest Detective through the ringer this week with their Batman: The Telltale Series – Season Pass Disc for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The disc will include the first episode from Telltale’s Batman series and digital access to every subsequent episode released (the second is scheduled to launch on September 20).

Finally this week, a trio of re-releases will reintroduce gamers to a few beloved franchises. BioShock: The Collection will bring BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite together in a single package for the PS4 and Xbox One (and digitally on the PC) with improved graphics and exclusive commentary by Ken Levine and other developers from Irrational. Meanwhile, Capcom’s Dead Rising also makes the leap to the PS4 and Xbox One (and, again, digitally on the PC) with improved graphics. And Square Enix and Nintendo collaborated on a brand new localization for the 3DS release of Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.

A complete list of this week’s new releases can be found after the break. (more…)

Microsoft will release ReCore next week, but first, a new Launch Trailer for the game will give fans a deeper glimpse into the world of Far Eden. A collaboration between Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and Armature Studio, here’s what Senior Creative Director Joseph Staten had to say about ReCore on the Xbox Wire:

Survival starts in the core, and today Microsoft Studios unveiled a new look into ReCore’s adventure-filled world, Far Eden, and its heroine, Joule Adams. Narrated by Joule’s father, Dr. Thomas Adams, the video takes a deeper look at Joule’s journey, revealing new gameplay and characters from ReCore’s cinematic story as well as the qualities Joule inherited from her father; qualities that will help her and her Corebot companions to bring new life and hope to Far Eden.

In addition to being one of the first big games of the Fall, ReCore is also the first Xbox Play Anywhere title, and it’ll be available for the PC and Xbox One on September 13.

Way back in 2003, Microsoft released Halo: Combat Evolved for the PC, and followed it up with a PC port for Halo 2 in 2007. Not counting the Spartan spinoff games, these are the only two titles in the Halo franchise to ever be released for the PC. But it looks like PC players might get to revisit the franchise again in the not-too-distant future.

Yusuf Mehdi, the Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, knows that fans want the franchise to continue on the PC, and he might just grant them their wish. In a new post on the Windows Blog, Mehdi has confirmed that all future Microsoft-published games will be released as part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program, meaning that purchasers will receive a copy of the game for the Xbox One and Windows 10.

With the Xbox Play Anywhere program, you can buy a game once and play on your Windows 10 PC and Xbox One with shared progress, shared game saves and shared achievements. Every new title published from Microsoft Studios will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.

Halo 6, the next mainline entry in the franchise, was announced in 2011 as part of a “new trilogy” alongside Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. It’s unknown when it’ll be released (or even re-announced), but unless Microsoft exempts it from the Xbox Play Anywhere program, we now know it’ll be available for the Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs.

In the more immediate future, Microsoft has a number of Xbox Play Anywhere titles planned for the Fall including Gears of War 4, Dead Rising 4, Forza Horizon 3, and ReCore.

Microsoft has announced that ReCore, the collaboration between Keiji Inafune’s Comcept and Armature Studio, will be released for the PC and Xbox One on September 13. It will also be one of the first games to be part of the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, which lets players buy a game once and play it on both their Windows 10 PC and Xbox One with shared progress, game saves, and Achievements.

ReCore is a game that has a lot in common with Keiji Infune’s famed Mega Man series. In fact, it even shares some DNA with Maverick Hunter, a failed first-person Mega Man project that Armature was working on a few years ago.

In the E3 2016 trailer above, we’re introduced to Joule, one of the last human survivors of Far Eden, and her many robotic companions. There’s Mack, a dog-like explorer; Seth, a spider-legged escape artist; and Duncan, the gorilla-ish heavy hitter. Players will pair up with these bots to navigate Far Eden’s hostile environments on an adventure to save mankind.

When ReCore is released on September 13, it’ll be available in both a Standard Edition (Retail Price: $39.99) and a Limited Collector’s Edition (Retail Price: $179.99). In addition to a copy of the game, the Collector’s Edition will include 14-inch statues of Joule and Mack, designed and sculpted by TriForce. Regardless of which edition you buy, everyone who pre-orders ReCore will receive a digital download of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for the Xbox 360 (which is also playable on the Xbox One).

Microsoft loved to promote their 2015 release schedule as the “Greatest Games Line-Up in Xbox History,” but the publisher plans to continue to use that tagline in 2016. Mike Nichols, the Xbox Division’s Corporate Vice President of Marketing, has posted a look back at some of Microsoft’s achievements from the previous year on the Xbox Wire, but the executive also gave us a “snapshot” of Big Redmond’s 2016 lineup of Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusives.

Most of these release dates are well known, but it’s nice to learn that the Windows 10 version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will be released this Spring. And it looks like Keiji Inafune’s ReCore will also be released for the PC in addition to the Xbox One, though its release date has been changed from “Spring 2016” to “TBA 2016”:

Bethesda’s first-ever E3 Press Conference was chock-full of goodies, from Dishonored: Definite Edition for next generation consoles to a new Doom and its intuitive SnapMap creator. But there was also something else to celebrate during the presentation, as the company’s two biggest announcements, Fallout 4 and Dishonored 2, both offered the choice to play as a female character. And believe it or not, every game showcased by Bethesda will give players that same choice. (more…)

Keiji Inafune really loves robots. After leading the Mega Man franchise for more than 20 years, Inafune left Capcom to pursue his own games. That path eventually lead to Mighty No. 9, a side-scrolling spiritual successor to Mega Man that will be released this September.

During Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference, the legendary developer announced ReCore, a shooter that takes place in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. Players will “forge friendships with an eclectic cast of robots” as they “lead them on an epic adventure across a mysterious, ever-changing world.”

For this project, Inafune will partner with Armature, a studio that was formed by several former members of Retro Studios. Earning their stripes on Metroid Prime, these developers definitely have plenty of experience with futuristic shooters. And with Inafune, for that matter. Armature previously worked with Capcom in 2010 in an attempt to transform Mega Man X into a first person shooter. That game, Maverick Hunter, was canceled less than six months after development began.

Looking at both games side-by-side, the “energy core” mechanic from ReCore seems to have originated with Maverick Hunter. Who knows what other pieces of the canceled game were repurposed by Armature for ReCore? We’ll find out together when ReCore is released exclusively for the Xbox One in Spring 2016.